In the capital, landmarks such as the Big Ben and Westminster are shielded by a barrier system designed to regulate the swollen waters of the Thames.

Image Caption:The Thames Barrier is to the east of London

Located downstream from central London, the barrier has been in operation since 1982 to protect the city from a tide from the North Sea and ensure that the river does not burst its banks in the city centre.

Image Caption:Canary Wharf sits near the barrier

It keeps the houses of parliament, the business district of Canary Wharf and other areas safe.

Just to the west of London, Windsor Castle overlooks the river in the county of Berkshire, one of the hardest-hit regions.

There are no reports of any damage to the 11th-century property used by the British royal family for centuries.

Image Caption:The Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Castle surrounded by flood water

Near Windsor lies Runnymede, the historic place where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, establishing the rights of the English people and curbing the power of the king.

Image Caption:The Magna Carta, signed in Runnymede, paved the way for constitutional rule

Floods from the swollen River Thames are threatening parts of the historic city of Oxford, home to one of the world's oldest universities.

Image Caption:Oxford university dates to the 12th century

Elsewhere in the country, a centuries-old rock arch at Porthcothan Bay in Cornwall, southwest England, collapsed into a heap of rubble after being battered by towering waves up to 50ft (15 metres) high.

A cliff stack known as Pom Pom rock on the so-called Jurassic Coast in Dorset, southern England, also disintegrated.

Nearby, Chesil Beach, a long stretch of coastline made famous in a novel by British writer Ian McEwan, appeared to have had its famed pebbles completely washed away and replaced by sand.